Combustion Engine - Not working

I am running on a server, when I place down the combustion engine it will not become operational.
saving that this has been disabled by the power grid to save resources.
I need to know how to fix this!

What's happening is that you've put down a generator but as far as the grid can tell, you already have enough power, so it's not turning on in order to reduce pollution. You need more machines that require power in order for the generator to work.